Frequently Asked Questions about the PhD Minor

A PhD minor serves as a credential in the field. The minor in FGSS provides graduate students with broad interdisciplinary knowledge and will prepare students to teach courses in fields related to feminist, gender, and sexuality studies. It will also bring together graduate students and faculty from different departments, programs, and schools.

To become a member of fs-students and/or fs-announcements, email antnguyn [at] stanford.edu (antnguyn[at]stanford[dot]edu)

Stay tuned for a new Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Instagram account.  The program also maintains a Facebook page (Stanford Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), where many articles and events of interest are posted.

The PhD minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is sponsored by the Program in Modern Thought and Literature. The minor is administered by the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

The notation on the transcript will read “Ph.D. Minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.”

Your doctoral diploma will indicate that you completed the “Ph.D. Minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.”

Prior to being approved as a minor, each student selects a suitable Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies adviser. We recommend that you locate this adviser in consultation with the Director or Associate Director of FGSS. The FGSS adviser may be a member of the student’s home department. Students will be expected to meet regularly with their FGSS advisers.

Courses taken for the PhD minor must be graduate‐level courses numbered 200 or above. Courses must be taken for a letter grade and must be outside of the student's home department unless special permission has been granted by the Program Director.

A study plan is required of all students at the time of application to the minor. Students may include alternate courses on their proposed list and submit syllabi and a brief justification for those courses. If the application to the minor is approved, those courses are thereby approved as well. If a students wishes to propose an alternate course after having been admitted to the minor, a petition supported by the student’s FGSS and department advisers should be submitted to the Program Office.

Students may petition to count a course they took pass/fail before applying to the minor towards their minor requirements. Students must submit a letter from the instructor that evaluates the student’s work and assigns an unofficial grade.

No.

Yes.  Although our form only has 4 spaces in which to list the classes that will count toward your minor, you MAY take more than 4 classes to reach 20 units.  If you need to list more than 4, feel free to add on to the form or to include an addendum listing relevant class details.

YES, as long as the total number of units towards the minor adds up to at least 20.

Yes, units taken for the minor may count toward the degree requirements for the PhD with the home department’s approval. As noted above, FGSS minor units may not be counted toward a Master’s degree.

No, all units for the minor must be taken at Stanford University.

Yes, but units applied to the minor may not also be applied to a Master’s degree. Therefore, students earning a minor and a Master’s degree must map out their courses carefully to determine whether they can meet both sets of requirements without delaying time to TGR and incurring additional tuition charges.

Typically, this application is completed by the end of the second year.The form must be approved by the student’s primary departmental adviser as well as by the FGSS Program and then submitted to the Student Services Center. 

[See Graduate Student Forms on the Registrar’s website: https://studentservices.stanford.edu/more-resources/forms-processes#programchanges]

The University does allow students to complete two minors, but the pertinent units must not overlap. This increase in course load may well delay time to TGR and therefore may not be approved by a student’s home department.